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Multibillion rail plan botched, says Labor

Melissa Iaria and Genevieve Gannon

The Victorian government hails its $11 billion Melbourne rail link as a game-changing project that will transform the state for decades.

But the Labor opposition says it is a plan which is botched, ignores areas of need and is part of a desperate bid by the government to cling to power at the November election.

The government is staking its re-election bid on the record $27b infrastructure expenditure in Tuesday's budget, which includes a rail link to boost capacity, a train line to the airport and building the second stage of the East West Link road project.

The projects are expected to create more than 26,000 jobs, including 3700 jobs from the Melbourne Rail Link, 3000 from the western section of the East West Link and 700 from plans to widen the CityLink tollway.

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It is the most ambitious infrastructure program ever undertaken in the state, Premier Denis Napthine says.

But the project at the centrepiece - the Melbourne rail link - is ill conceived, according to Labor leader Daniel Andrews.

The plan includes twin tunnels from Southern Cross station to South Yarra, going via two new rail stations.

The third train station will be at Melbourne Airport.

The government says the project would add up to 20,000 extra passengers compared with the old proposal, an underground nine-kilometre rail tunnel under the CBD.

But Mr Andrews says not only have stations and services been cut from the original metro rail proposal, but Melbourne's south-east has been cut out of the city loop and Flinders Street.

"To build stations where no one lives at the expense of stations where hundreds of thousands of Victorians come to work and visit every single day does nothing to improve public transport," Mr Andrews told reporters on Wednesday.

Labor will not proceed with the government's metropolitan rail project, focusing on its own version which involves doubling the size of the city loop.

But the government says its new plan is better, because it includes an airport rail link, delivered more for the same price and will not involve ripping up the CBD for two years.

"This is what's been called for for years," Dr Napthine said.

"It is a transformational project."

Mr Andrews also says the budget fails to focus on education, health and emergency services with nothing to improve emergency department overcrowding and little to address elective surgery waiting lists.

Dr Napthine said while the budget will deliver for all Victorians, the focus is the record infrastructure spending that will make a difference for decades to come.

"This is infrastructure that makes a real difference, not just now but for decades to come," he said.